A heat exchanger is a device which transfers the heat of one substance to another. Heat exchangers are common in various applications, such as industrial settings, air conditioning, refrigeration, vehicles and the like. Commonly, these heat exchangers are in the form of evaporators, condensers and radiators. Each typically includes passages for a fluid to travel through, wherein the fluid transfers heat to or from the environment through which it is traveling.
Referring to the drawings, FIGS. 1-3 depict a prior heat exchanger 10. FIG. 1 depicts a top view of a heat exchanger 10, FIG. 2 depicts an end view of a heat exchanger 10 and FIG. 3 depicts a bottom view of a connector 12 of a heat exchanger 10. Heat exchanger 10 includes a tube member 16 having fins 17 extending along the length of the tube 16. Further, the heat exchanger 10 includes connector 12, wherein connector 12 has a port 13 and a base 15, wherein base 15 comprises a flat joint surface 14 coupled to base 15. In the prior art connector 12, flat joint surface 14 has a width of represented as D1, wherein the width D1 is less than the diameter of port 13.
Flat joint surface 14 is brazed to tube member 16 in order to functionally couple connector flat joint surface 14 with the round outer surface of tube member 16. In operations, the connection of flat joint surface 14 to tube member 16 of the prior art heat exchanger 10 has limited strength when axial forces are applied to the connector. Failures during operation occur due to structural breakdown between connector 12 and tube 16, such as fatigue stress cracks causing internal fluid leaking to the external surroundings. In other words heat exchanger 10 has limited strength in stress and strain. Thus, there is a need for an improved tube connection design of a flat aluminum surface of a connector to a round aluminum tube of a heat exchanger.